Thrashing-machine



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G. FRIGK. THRASHING 'MAGHINE,

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, G. FRIOK.

- THRASHING MACHINE. No. 447,043. Patented Feb. 24, 1891.

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G PRIGK THRASHVING MACHINE.

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THRASHlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,043, dated February24, 1891.

Application filed September 30, 1890. Serial No. 366,653- (No model.)

, To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE FRIOK, a cit-izen of the United States,residing at VVaynesborough,in the county of Franklin and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inThrashing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention isan improvement in thrashing-machines; and it consists inthe novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafterfully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings 1 have illustrated the best form in which Ihave contemplated embodying my invention, and the same is fullydisclosed in the following description and claims.

Referring to the said drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section ofmyimproved thrashing-machine. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section onthe line 0000, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar section on line y y, Fig. 1.Fig. 4 is a longitudinal horizontal section through the fan andair-passages. Figs. 5, 6, 7, and S are details of parts of theconstruction. In the said drawings,A represents the framework or casingof the machine, which may be mounted upon suitable supporting-wheels, asindicated in dotted lines.

B is the thrashing-cylinder, which is mounted in the forward part of theframe. I form this cylinder of metal, preferably iron or steel, and itmay be formed by bending a piece of plate metal into the cylind ricalform and securing the ends together by welding or otherwise; or it maybe made of welded tubing in one piece, and in any case the cylinder isof sufficient thickness to give the requisite amount of rigidity andstrength. The cylinder .is secured to the supporting-sh aft in anydesired manner, and is perforated to receive the shanks of teethb, whichare of any desired or usual form, and are provided with shonlders,'which engage theoutside or the cylinder. The shank of eaters-on], after itis passed through the cylindeg-is provided with a cone-shaped block bofwood, vulcanized rubber, or other suitable -material, the

said block havingacentral aperture engaging the shank of the tooth. Uponthe'cone-shaped block b is placed a hollow cone-shaped cap 19 of metal,which fits over the block b, and is provided at its closed end with aconcave portion 19 A nut 5 having a concave portion, is placed on theshank of the tooth b and screwed up until the convex portion of the nutengages the convex portion 19 of the cap, and the parts are drawntightly together.

The cone-shaped block b will brace the shank of the tooth againststrains in all directions, and each tooth is thus held and bracedindependently. The block of wood or other material being slightlyelastic, the parts will be held without the danger of becoming loosened,as is the case where all parts are entirely rigid.

O is the concave, which is of ordinary construction, and is providedwith means for adjusting the same with respect to the cylinder,consisting, in this instance, of the eccentric c. The concave isalsoprovided with teeth, which may be attached by the means hereinbeforedescribed for attaching the cylinder-teeth, or they may be secured inplace in any other manner, if desired.

In rearof the thrashing-cylinder is mounted a straw-propelling drum orcylinder D, which may be in the form of a ratchet-cylinder, as shown,orit may be constructed in the form of a plain cylinder having cleats,ribs, or teeth secured thereto; or I may employ a corrugated cylinder,if found desirable. Beneath the n'opelling-druin D is hung the yieldingapron E, which consists of a perforated bottom, preferably of metalprovided with lips or tongues punched out and bent downwardly in awell-known manner. The apron E is pivolally supported in rear of theconcave at e, and receives the straw and grain therefrom, and itsrearward end extends in an upward direction conforming to the shape ofthe drum D, the upper extremity, after leaving the drum, being bentdownward, as at e, forming a lip. The rear end of apron E is providedwith a bracket or brace 6 which rests upon a knocker-shaft F extendingtransversely of the machine, and consisting in this instance of a squareor polygonal shaft. The apron E is preferably provided at each side withan angle-iron, as shown at a to give it the desired strength and hold itsufficiently rigid.

' and to provide means for holding the apron up against the drum when avery thin sheet of straw is passing through, I provide the upper or rearend of the apron with springs e 6 connected to the frame-work of themachine and to the plates ff.

The hearings for the kllOCliGB- shaft are formed in platesff. located onopposite sides of the machine, and the sides of the machine are providedwith vertically-disposed slots to allow for the movement of said shaftand the parts connected therewith. The plates ff are formed large enoughto cover the slots in all the positions into which they may be moved,and in order to cause both plates to move simultaneously I interpose across-bar f bet-ween the plates ff, the ends of which preferably engageraised flanges cast on the inner faces of said plates. A bar f connectsthe two plates and is provided with a nut on one or both ends outside ofthe platesff, whereby the nuts may be drawn up and the plates andcross-bars secured rigidly together.

The shaft F is driven from the shaftof the drum D by means of asprocketchain or belt, and in order to keep the chain taut inall positions ofthe shaft I provide the hearingplates ff with rigid arms f which arepivotally connected to the bearing-plates of the drum-shaft, as shown atd. I might connect the arm f to the shaft of the drum, if desired; butthe above is my preferred construction, as it is more convenient in manylocated the upper air-chamber H, which is' supplied from a fan K,located for compactness near the forward part of the machine. Beneaththe upper air-chamber H is an open passage 71, through which thegrain-bottom extends, and beneath this open space is the lowerair-chamber H. The upper and lower air-passages are connectedjoyair-chutes H 11 whichare located at the sides of themain frame of themachine, as indicated in Fig. 4. At each side of the passage h, throughwhich the grain-bottom extends, is a sheet of iron or other metal h,Fig. 4, which serves as the inner wall of the air-chute H thereby allowing more space in said chute than if a thick board were employed.

The fan or blower K is made shorter than the width of the machine, andan inlet-port 7c is provided at each side which communicates with thefan-receptacle through the aperture it. I provide the lower ends of theinlet-ports k with wire gauze or netting to prevent straws or otherforeign matter from being drawn up into the fan-receptacle. The airpasses from the fan-receptacle rearward through the air-passage Kintothe lower and upper air-chambers, and I provide the said air-chamberswith valves for controlling the blast of air at the pointsof itsdelivery therefrom, so that a considerablepressure of airis alwaysmaintained in the said chambers. In the construction and arrangementofthe said valves I provide a series of fixed slats L, extending from oneside of the machine to the other at suitable distances'apart, forming agrate construction. The rearward edges Z of these slats are inclineddownward, and each slat extends over the innermost edge of the nextlower slat, so that any grain falling upon the slats will be prevented*from getting into the apertures between the same by the inclined edgesZ. In the form shown in Fig. l and in detail in 'Fig. 71 provide amovable slat L in rear of eaehof the'slats L, the said movable slatsbeing all connected at their ends by-cross-bars lfor-simultaneousadjustment by any desired means. Each of the movable slas L is preferablyprovided with a deflector 1 consisting, preferably, of,a metallic strip, as will be clearly seen in Fig. 7. \Vhen the sheets orjets of air are desired to be reduced in size to decrease the blast, thecross-bars are moved in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 7, which willpartially close the grated openings, as will be readily understood. Anydesired means may be employed ineffecting the adj ustmentof thesaidvalves. In Figs. 1 and 2I have shown one form, which consists of ashaft M, extending the entire width of the machine and provided with alever m at each side of the machine. The shaft M is also provided with aprojection on, engaging a notched construction on the cross-bar of themovable slats, whereby the valves can be operated from either side ofthe machine. The levers may be secured in their adjusted positions bymeans of thumbnuts, if desired. As before stated, these valves areprovided for both the upper and lower air-chambers, and the constructionis the same in both cases.

Instead of the form ofvalve justdescribed, I may employ the form shownin Fig. 8, in which each fixed slat L is provided with a or othermaterial forming the valve.

rock-shaft Z carrying a narrow strip of metal The said rock-shafts maybe provided with arms Z for moving the same so as to partially close theapertures between the slats L, and said arms may be connected forsimultaneous adjustment or adjusted independently of each 1 other, asdesired.

In rear of the valves of the upperair-chamher is the straw-bottom, whichis formed of a series of perforated angularly-bent strips or bars N,leaving spaces between each two adjacent strips. These strips areprovided with downward-bent lips, leaving perforations for the passageof grain therethrough, and the straw-bottom is stiffened at each end bymeans of angle-iron, as shown in Figs. 1 and S. I prefer to give thestraw-bottom the zigzag shape shown in Fig. 1, as it gives a muchgreater separating surface without increasing the length of the machine,and, further, the direction of the grain is changed several times, thusfacilitating the action of the agitators,

' which are provided in connection with the device. tom is provided witha cross-bar of angle-iron n. which rests upon a square or polygonalknocker-shaft N, (see Fig. 1,) which gives a jolting motion to thestraw-bottom and facilitates the Separation of the grain from the straw.The rear end of the straw-bottom is supported by hangers N which areinclined in such a manner as to press the straw-bottom against theknocker-shaft N, as shown in Fig. 1

Beneath the straw-bottom are two agitatorshafts O 0, provided with armswhich pass between the perforated strips or bars N, and I form the armsof the rearward agitator O considerably longer than those of theagitator O, and both agitator-shafts are driven in the same directionand at the same speed. As a consequence of this arrangement, theextremities of the teeth of agitator 0' move more rapidly than theextremities of the. teeth of 0.

Hence the straw will be pulled apart and loosened and the grain shakenout more readily upon the perforated bot-tom,the straw during the periodof its agitation being acted upon by. the air-blast.

Any desired number of agitators might be employed in connection with theslotted strawbottom, and the teeth of each made longer than those of theone forward, thus increasing from front to rear.

The grain-bottom P is located beneath the perforated apron E, andextends rearwardly in an inclined direction through the open space itbetween the upper and lower airchambers, and is hinged or pivotallyconnected to the shoe P at x, as shown in Fig. 1. The shoe andgrain-bottom are supported by suitable hangers, and are pivoted togetherto enable the forward end of the grain-bottom to be adjusted verticallyto suit different grains. A shaking motion is imparted to the bottom Pand shoe P from a counter-shaftp The forward end of the straw-bot-.

by means of cranks and connecting-rod, as shown in Fig. 1,0r I mayemploy an eccentric and strap, if desired.

The shoe P is provided with a screen or riddle p, beyond which are theslats 19 which receive the tailings. Beneath the riddle p the shoe isprovided with an inclined bottom, which conducts the clean grain to theconeshaped grain-spout p and beneath theslats p is a similar cone-shapedspout p, which conducts the tailings to the tailings-elevator. I providethe shoe with a fixed slat p and a movable slat p to deflect thetailings into their delivery-spout and to regulate the outlet of theblast at that point, as seen .in Fig. 1. It will be seen that the shoeis provided with two spouts, one for clean grain and another fortailings, and both are operated by the jolting or shaking of the shoe,thus dispensing with auxiliary mechanism for this purpose. Beneath thestraw-bottom is an inclined chute Q, which is supported by hangers andconnected to the shoe by a connecting-rod g, by means of which motion isimparted thereto. By these constructions j ust described, thegrain-bottom, the shoe with its riddle and gi'aiirspouts, and theinclined chute Q are all jolted or shaken by means of the crank-shaft1), instead of employing separate means for jolting or shaking theseparate devices. v

The cylinder of the machine is driven by the main power-belt from theengine or other power device, and the fan is driven by means of a beltfrom the cylinder-shaft. The drum D, beater G, agitators O O, and theshaft 19 are all driven by an endless sprocket-chain, as indicated indotted lines in Fig. l,the said chain. passing over a pulley at the rearof the machine, which is adjustable, thereby enabling the entire chainto be tightened by means of one adjusting device. The chain is driven inany desired manner from the fanshaft or from the cylinder-shaft.Theknockershaft F is driven by means of a sprocketchain from the shaftofdrum D, and knockershat't N is driven from the shaft of the agitator Oin a similar manner. Idle-wheels may be used where necessary to give therequired direction of rotation to the various shafts.

The operation of my improved thrashingmachine is as follows: The grainis fed to the cylinder of the machine in the usual manner, and afterleaving the cylinder it passes onto the perforated apron E. rearwardlyin a thin sheet by the propellingdrum D, and a large part of the grainwhich has been separated from the straw by the cylinder will fallthrough the perforated apron, which is agitated by the knocker-shaft F,onto the grain-bottom P, which conducts it to the riddle p of the shoe.The straw fed by the drum 1) passes up the rear portion of. the apron Einto an almost vertical position and is struck by the beater G, almostperpendicularly, thereby knocking a considerable amount of the grain outof the straw, bending the p The straw is moved straw sharply at rightangles and loosening it up. The grain as it falls from the lip e orrearward extremity of the apron E is acted upon by the blast of air fromthe upper airchamber,which blast is distributed and broken up into thinsheets or jets of air by the grated discharge'openings. One of theresults accomplished by this construction is that the reduceddischarge-openings will cause a constant air-pressu re in theair-chambers, thereby tending to equalize the inequalities of the blastand render it even and regular. The straw then falls upon the joltingstraw-bottom, where it is acted upon by the agitators O O, as beforedescribed. As the greater part of the chaff is blown out of the straw asit descends upon the straw-bottom, the work of the agitators is greatlyreduced, and they will shake up and loosen the straw, allowing the grainto fall through the perforated bottom. The air-currents act upon thestraw during the whole period that it is on the straw-bottom, and theagitators serve to shake and loosen it up and at the same time to feedit rearward to the discharge end of the machine.

Thegrain falling th rough the perforated strawbottom falls upon the shoePor the chute Q, which conducts it to the shoe, and the grain from thegrain-bottom is also conducted to the shoe, as before stated. It will beseen that the grain which falls upon the shoe has been nearly cleaned,and all that remains to do is to elfect the final separation. Hence amuch smaller riddle or screen than usual may be employed, as will beseenin the drawings. The grain is fed upon the screen or riddle p of theshoe and is acted upon by the blasts of air coming from the lowerairchamber. The cleaned grain falls through the said screen or riddleand is conducted to the grain-spout, while the failings are conducted onover the screen and finally deposited in the chute leading to thetail-end elevator, light matter being separated from the failings by theairblast as the material passes over the slats 19 By the constructionsherein described a veryefficient thrashing-niachine is produced, whichis compact and occupies much less space than is occupied by the machinesnow in ordinary use.

By my invention the air-blast is controlled by a series of valves, and apressure is maintained in the air-chambers instead of controlling theair-blast by regulating the amount of air admitted to the fan, and manyother valuable results are produced by the use of my machine.

I do not desire to be limited. to the exact details of constructionherein shown and described, as the same may be considerably modifiedwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, substantially as hereiubefore set forth, of thestraw -propelling drum,.the apron, and the spring supporting one end ofthe same.

2. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, with thestraw-propelling drum, of the apron, pivoted at one end and a revolvingknocker shaft engaging the apron adjacent to the other end.

The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of thestraw-propelling position, a propelling-drum engaging the' straw on thecurved portion of the apron, and the beater located above the dischargeend of the apron for engaging the forward side of the straw as it leavesthe apron.

(i. The herein-described thrashing-machine, comprising among its membersan air-chamber provided with a series of fixed slats having the outerends inclined, a series of movable slats provided with deflectorsextending into the spaces between the fixed slats, means for adjustingthe movable slats with respect to the fixed slats, and air-forcingdevices for supplying air to said chamber.

'7. In a thrashing-machine, the combination, with the shoe and thestraw-bottom, of an air-chamber having a series of dischargeapertures ofsmall area discharging below the shoe and another air-chamber having aseries of discharge-apertures of small area located in close relation tosaid straw-bottom, part of said apertures discharging above and partbelow said straw-bottom, and an air-forcing device i'or supplying airunder pressure to said chambers, substantially as described.

8. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, with thecylinder of a thrashing-machine, of a tooth and tooth-securing meanscomprising a non-metallic coneshaped block surrounding the shank of thetooth, the cap engaging the same, and the securing-nut.

9. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, with thecylinder of a thrashing-machine, of a tooth and tooth-securing meanscomprising anon-metallic coneshaped block surrounding the shank of thetooth and engaging the interior face of the cylinder, the cap engagingsaid block having a concave portion, and a securing-nut having a convexportion engaging the concave portion of the cap.

10. In a thrashing-machine, the combination, with the shoe and thestraw-bottom, of

an air-chamber having a series of dischargea'pertures of small areadischargingbelow the shoe, and another airchamberhaving a series ofapertures of small area located in close relation to said straw-bottom,part of said apertures discharging above and part below saidstraw-bottom, a grain-bottom located between said air-chambers forconveying grain to the shoe, and an air-forcing device for supplying airunder pressure to said air-chambers, substantially as described.

11. Athrashing-machinecomprisingamong its members a perforated apronadapted to receive material from the thrashing-cylinder, twoair-chambers located in different horizontal planes, the shoe, agrain-bottom passing between said air-chamber and adapted to receivegrain from the perforated apron and convey it to the shoe, and a commonair-forcing device connected with both of said airchainbers,substantially as described.

12. The combination, substantially as here inbefore set forth, of theapron having its rear end curved upward, a propelling-drum engaging thestraw on the curved portion of the apron, a heater above the dischargeend of the apron adapted to engage the forward side of the straw with anearly horizontal stroke, an air-chamber located beneath the dischargeend of the apron, said air-chamber discharging rearwardly into thematerial as it falls from the beater, and an air-forcing device forsupplying air to said chamber.

13. In a thrashing-machine, the combination, with the shoe, of astraw-bottom located above the same, an apron discharging upon the strawbottom, an air-chamber having a series of apertures of small areadischarging beneath the shoe, another air-chamber having aseries ofapertures of small area, part of said apertures discharging between theapron and straw-bottom and part discharging between said straw-bottomand shoe, and an air-forcing device for supplying air under pressure tosaid air-chambers, substantially as described.

14. In a thrashing-machine, the combination, with the grain-bottom, theshoe, the straw-bottom located above the shoe, and a perforated apronhaving a part located above the grain-bottom and discharging onto thestraw-bottom, of an air-chamber located beneath the grain-bottom andhaving a series of apertures of small area discharging beneath the shoe,another air-chamber located above the grain-bottom having a series ofapertures of small area, part of said apertures discharging between saidapron and strawbottom and part discharging between said' straw-bottomand shoe, and an air-forcing device for supplying air under pressure tosaid air-chambers, substantially as described. In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE FRICK.

\Vitnesses:

L. P. WHITAKER, OLIVE D. BAKER.

